“This is the Moment” – Overwatch 2’s new stadium model is the biggest change in 9 years
In May 2016, the famous Studio Blizzard launched its hero shooting game Overwatch. A month later, the game added a competitive mode and remained relatively the same in the 2022 sequel Overwatch 2. On Tuesday, Overwatch 2 will launch its new stadium mode, which is probably the biggest change in the game in nearly nine years.
While the competition format remains more or less the same, a lot happened between Overwatch’s earliest days and the start of the stadium – dozens of dollars, huge content drought, the launch of Overwatch 2, and more and more novel modes like mysterious heroes and lengthy players-made custom games lists. But for all these changes and choices, the stadium is what Overwatch developers expect to change people’s games.
In an online media interview, game director Aaron Keller said if someone is waiting for Overwatch or back in the game, then the stadium is the time.
It’s a big test of Overwatch’s long-term prospects, with the game recently passing 40 million players four months after its launch of rival hero scorer Marvel rivals. Overwatch and its free evolution Overwatch 2 is a de facto hero shooter for most of the last decade, with the biggest matches coming from other shooters like Apex Legends and Valorts, focusing more on different shooter subcategories (Combat Royal and Tactical Shooters). But when rival crazy gameplay reminiscent of the crazy era of the early Overwatch, and a surprisingly surprisingly amazing roster of Miracle Favorites, it offers players some updates and more stark matches.
The question is: How does Overwatch respond?
Keller noted that the stadium has been in progress since the release of Overwatch 2, which seems to be the answer. It takes the familiar Overwatch Formula—two players split on three different roles, playing heroes of unique abilities on a goal-based map—and shake it all and pump it with adrenaline.
In stadium mode, players can make their heroes more threatening by increasing survivability, damage, ability enhancement, etc.
Suddenly, Reinhardt wasn’t just pushing his power around the corner. He was flying in the air. Anna enhances her entire team in Nano. Plum turns into a huge snowball rolling towards you.
Meanwhile, your team may play their part when your team burns your Ashe, her Ashe will often fire mini players, and Kiriko becomes invincible in her end.
Stadiums are about improving everyone’s core capabilities to achieve new features and greatly expand customizability. I expected this to be a game mode, especially for two types of players: First, it would be the ones who really like specific heroes and want to be able to play in each case are hit, choosing the talents and projects that adapt them to their opponents. But secondly, it may also attract people who like to think and tinker – people who want theory make different people for heroes and test their competitors. Overwatch’s core game mode can be challenging for these types of players, due to the pervasiveness of counterattacks and the general lack of breakthroughs in the game. The stadium offers some interesting options.
In addition to the fast game and competition mode, the stadium is designed as the third main pillar of gameplay – Keller said there is an independent crowd and “a lot of resources” dedicated to the stadium mode.
The stadium finally brings a third-person option to Overwatch.
I asked if the stadium was designed to deal with the shift in demand for Overwatch players. Keller points out three player-specific desires, new modes that want to solve: more downtime, more strategy and greater emphasis on power fantasy. Stadium is the seven best game modes, each turn is an abbreviated version of other game modes, such as control or push – basically, short, sweet concentrated action bursts still adhere to the familiar set of rules. In between these rounds, players will have some breathing space to think about the composition of the enemy team and how to strategically fight it by gaining new powers and “projects” that enhance the hero’s abilities.
The stadium abandons hero swaps and instead encourages players to surround their challenges. For example, heroes like Genji and D.Va can buy abilities that can mitigate beam damage, which they traditionally fight against. Similarly, the flying heroes traditionally fought back Reinhart. Nevertheless, Pharaoh and Echo players will have to know more carefully that Reinhardt may just draw his own direction in his direction, threatening to nail them to the wall – perhaps with explosive damage!
These mechanics mark the stadium as the latest, largest evidence that Overwatch Developers are moving away from the attention of the game’s meticulously balanced experience, allowing players to embrace their hero’s fantasy more fully. Keller said the developer’s push is greater than other game modes, meaning teams gain more freedom when cooking new powers and upgrades for their roster of playable characters.
I’ll try this week’s stadium before season 16 begins next week. After covering Overwatch 2 since Beta in 2022, I’ve seen the game stable but slow toward healthy – although fans may have slowly stopped as the years wear out. The stadium is expected to be a veritable leap, and I’m excited to see if it can live up to the hype it wants to inspire the current, return and new players.
The stadium will be launched on April 22nd in Season 16. The new mode will feature 17 heroes and 9 maps, although developers say it will continue to evolve, new heroes are often added.
